China has reiterated its firm stance on strictly adhering to UN resolutions and will severely punish any violations, a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.
Hua Chunying said China was not aware of a news agency report that a Hong Kong-flagged vessel had been involved in oil sales to the DPRK in spite of UN sanctions.
But she insisted that China will never allow its citizens or enterprises to violate UN resolutions.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a South Korean foreign ministry official on Friday as saying that local authorities had seized and inspected a Hong Kong-registered ship in November for transferring oil in October.